Essay Draft

There are always two sides to a story; these artifacts help explain this. The commonplace, “performative activism” has become increasingly popular through social media including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Whether we like it or not, we all have partaken in performative activism. If you still think you haven’t played a part in this: have you ever seen a post of a serious social issue, think about it for a couple of seconds, like the post, and then move on with your day? If you answered yes, you aren’t alone. Social media being so accessible and sadly, our main way of receiving news, makes it challenging to avoid this snowball effect of activism.

 The first artifact shows you a look firsthand into a serious situation and pans out to the multiple thumbs up that are portrayed as “helping” the situation in the middle. The second artifact further proves this point and uses visual rhetoric, exigence, and the commonplace of “performative activism” to entice the reader into thinking more about the topic at hand. Artifact 1 takes a more serious and realistic approach to this movement while Artifact 2 displays a cartoon-like image that shows a common area where performative activism is present. While the two ads show different ideas of the same commonplace, they still hit all the points by using these rhetorical lenses. The heavy-hitting rhetorical situations such as dramatism, visual rhetoric, and strategic use of commonplaces make both artifacts take a productive approach to addressing a growing issue. As defined in Philosophy & Rhetoric, performative activism is shallow or self-serving support for social justice causes (Thimsen, Freya). If you think about it, the only purpose of social media is to share or even show off things that you do. This plays into the “self-serving” aspect of this kind of activism.

When diving deep into Artifact 1, the scene is set as serious and demanding. As a viewer of this artifact, you find yourself getting frustrated at the border of everyone’s thumbs up of people who aren’t genuinely helping the child in need. This is a quality example of the logos that are used. This artifact connects with the audience through the idea that no one besides the woman in the middle is genuinely helping the situation. The thumbs-up creates rage within the audience that leads to self-reflection of whether they have ever partaken in activism that didn’t achieve the goal at hand.

The black-and-white filter of the photo invites a sense of devastation and grimness within the situation. The setting and focus of the photo helps strengthen the dramatism situation. This picture is not to be taken lightly which helps get the point across. Taking photos that come from real-life crises enhances the weight that this ad has on us. Knowing that these are pictures of real people in struggling situations makes the viewer take a step back and reevaluate themselves and how they respond to social justice issues. Taking apart the elements in the photo also helps analyze the message displayed in the artifact. When looking at the facial expressions of the boy, we see distress, exhaustion, and helplessness. When contrasting this to the thumbs up, it can be described as phony and disrespectful to the boy in need. The simplicity of the photo lets the audience only focus on the main points of the ad. This helps people resonate with what they know the photo is addressing. 

The phrase used in this artifact, “liking isn’t helping”, is a prime example of exigence. After seeing the seriousness of the photo and the lack of effective help with the thumbs up, the phrase reiterates what the audience should already be thinking– liking isn’t helping. After reading this, it helps push the idea of combating performative activism even more than the ad has already done. This is a powerful way to end the artifact for a change in how people deal with social justice issues. 

With artifact 2, the approach is more of a cartoon-like graphic. The visual rhetoric displayed in this piece is seen through the bright, primary colors that can appeal to a wide variety of people. The body language of the people in the photo is seen as bored and uninterested in the protest they are currently at. Some people are on their phones, reading a book, or having a conversation with one another. The obvious distaste of these people plays into the purpose of this artifact that some people only protest to “look good”. The poster in front with the red font (which can further help to indicate that the wording is important) says “This is all I have to do right?”. The poster exposes how the people at the protest are currently feeling and that there is a conspicuous lack of passion. 

A commonplace that can also be tied along in this artifact, including performative activism, is peaceful protests. The ability to organize and participate in demonstrations, pickets, rallies, marches, and protests is a key aspect of democratic representation (Journal of Human Rights Practice, N. Jarman, M. Hamilton). Being able to exercise the right to protest peacefully is so crucial in the democratic country that we live in, but sadly these protests can end up being like what this ad is portraying. People might just show up to these protests to “keep a good image” or just to post on their social media and then leave without the needed passion that makes protests so effective. A time that this happened recently is when the Black Lives Matter movement was on the rise in 2020 and many celebrities and social media figures would attend protests and then show little to no effort in the movement itself. 

The comparison of these two artifacts is the take on style within the ad. When you look at Artifact 1, you can see that it takes a more serious approach; contrasting that with Artifact 2, the styles differ and reach a multitude of different audiences. Both artifacts achieve the goal of getting their point across. What was the point? Making people reevaluate how they address and handle social justice issues through their responses and actions. Although showing support through liking a post or showing up to events is a good start, it is not enough. Stopping here will lead to no further progression in solving crisis issues. Both artifacts use the commonplace of performative activism to push for a greater change in the audience. Using constructive lenses aids in getting a response from the audience; whether that be an emotional, powerful, or positive response. These civic artifacts are only the beginning of solving an issue, they help ignite a fire in each individual to go do good in the world instead of leaving things how they are. 

Speech Outline:

Intro:   If this photo doesn’t make you take a step back and think about performative activism, then I don’t know what will. This civic artifact is the epitome of activism that is portrayed on social media. Liking a photo of a social issue is not enough and this is what this ad is showing.

SDGs:   No poverty, zero hunger

Lenses: 

• Visual Rhetoric: black-and-white filter, thumbs up, distress
• Dramatism:  Setting of photo, real-life crisis situation, facial expression of boy
• Exigence: “Liking isn’t helping”, introducing a solution

Extra Notes: This plays into our everyday lives, we are the start of a new change, little deed play big role

Ending Questions: As long as we aren’t just showing a thumbs up and watching from the sidelines and actually participating in good around the world, we are helping. Do you find this true in your day-to-day life?

Thank you!